


Digimon Generations

by JadeFoxfire



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Savers | Digimon Data Squad, Digimon Tamers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, Crossover, Gen, Parallel Universes, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 07:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1378480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeFoxfire/pseuds/JadeFoxfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When their adventures ended, all the Digidestined thought they had accomplished what had needed to be done. Contacted a few years later, the Digidestined are pulled back into a battle that affects not only their world but all the worlds connected to the Digital World. </p>
<p>A multi-season crossover between Digimon Adventures, Tamers, Frontier, and Data Squad/Savers</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Gathering of Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Digimon at all. Playing around with the characters is for my own (sometimes sick) amusement.
> 
> Please enjoy the following chapter! 
> 
> This is cross-posted on my FFN account.

Chapter 1: A Gathering of Heroes

“It has come to my attention that our world, the Digital World, is not quite what it seems. When our world was first visited by the humans, I, like many other Digimon, was under the impression that our world was merely another world connected to the human world. However what I have witnessed today has change my initial opinion completely. I now believe that our world is more like a bridge that connects multiple human universes.”

        ~excerpt from _The Complete History of the Digital World_ by Bokomon

_Shibuya, Japan: Kanbara residence_

Takuya Kanbara was _not_ bored – no matter what anyone tried to say otherwise. He merely lamented the fact that summer was almost over and that none of his friends had been able to hang out. According to his teachers Takuya wasn’t going to be able to afford the luxury of lounging about once his last year junior high school started and he absolutely _hated_ that fact. He didn’t want to have to focus on what he wanted to do for junior high school. He just wanted to have fun and play soccer. If there was one thing Takuya loved more than soccer, it was his video games and relaxing. But it seemed as if the upcoming year would take that away. Takuya almost shouted for joy when his phone rang, relieving him from his self-imposed lamentation.

“Hello?” he answered.

_“Hi Takuya,”_ the caller replied.

“Koji?” Takuya asked incredulously.

Koji chuckled before responding. _“Of course! Do you have any plans tonight?”_

“Not at the moment. Why?”

_“I was wondering if you wanted to spend the night. Mom and Dad said that it’s fine.”_

“I’d love to! Anything to get me out of the house!”

_“Are you bored?”_

“No!” Takuya protested, eliciting another laugh from his best friend.

_“Sure you aren’t. Are you free to come over in about 10 minutes?”_

“Sounds like a plan. See you then! Bye!”

_“See you later.”_

Takuya hung up his phone and raced upstairs to pack his bag, almost running his mom over.

“Slow down Takuya!” his mother exclaimed. “Where’s the fire?”

“I’m going over to Koji’s for the night! I’ll be home tomorrow sometime!” he called over his shoulder.

As soon as he got to his room he started throwing things haphazardly into his soccer bag. He left his room quickly, only to reenter twice. Once to pack his pajamas and the second to grab his brush. He slid down the banister of the stairs, ignoring his mother’s reprimand for doing so, and slammed the door behind him. Once outside he slowed down, enjoying the lovely weather, and walked towards Koji’s house. Ever since his trip to the Digiworld, he had found a new respect for the outdoors and, strangely, was still able to predict the weather sometimes. Lost in thought, Takuya almost walked right past his destination. Shaking his head, he ran up to the door, rang the doorbell and was welcomed inside my Koji’s step-mom.

DGDG

The evening passed quickly as Takuya and Koji talked about entering their final year of junior high school, played video games and watched a movie together. As the credits rolled across the screen, Takuya and Koji set up sleeping bags and settled down for the night.

“Hey Koji,” Takuya murmured after a few moments of silence. “It’ll be two years tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Koji answered, equally as soft. “You want to go visit their graves tomorrow?”

“Sure. Can you believe I almost forgot about it? They were my best friends and I completely forgot. I feel so heartless,” Takuya whispered fiercely.

Koji gave a choked laugh in response. “I suppose we’re just getting used to living without them. Sometimes I wonder if my dad ever regrets not meeting Koichi before it happened. Sometimes I wonder if there was anything we could’ve done to stop it.”

“Probably not race across the street then,” Takuya tried to smile.

“Probably,” Koji murmured. “Well we should try to get to sleep if we want to get up at a decent hour. Night.”

“Good night,” Takuya responded before rolling back over and falling asleep.

_The setting sun was coloring the clouds above the ocean. Takuya, Zoe, JP, Tommy, Koji and Koichi had taken advantage of the wonderful weather to go to the beach. As the sun disappeared even further from view and the water took on a chilly feeling the group of friends had decided to get something to eat and then head home. By the time they finished eating, the beach nightlife had taken over the streets. The street lamps and neon signs illuminated the sidewalk and streets._

_“If we hurry we can catch the next train home,” Zoe announced, after checking the time on her phone._

_As the group of friends reached the last street crossing, Takuya turned to Koji._

_“Bet I can beat you to the station,” Takuya challenged, as they waited for the pedestrian sign to change._

_“You’re on,” Koji responded. “But you’re going to lose!”_

_“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!” Takuya smirked._

_The sign changed from the hand to the person and the two took off at top speed, leaving the rest of the group to cross at a more leisurely pace._

_Takuya and Koji had just reached the sidewalk when a scream froze them in their tracks. The two turned and faced the street in time to see an out-of-control truck hit the four still in the street. Takuya screamed as the bloody scene faded to black._

_“Relax young warrior,” a familiar voice soothed, as Takuya’s vision came back._

_Instead of standing on a street corner, he was in a murky room facing someone he thought he would never see again._

_“Agunimon!” Takuya cried in surprise. “What are you doing…in my…dream?”_

_“Warning you,” the warrior digimon of fire relied solemnly._

_“About what?” he inquired._

_“Lucemon has escaped along with the Royal Knights. He mentioned destroying Yggdrasil and taking over the Digital World,” Agunimon explained._

_“Lucemon escaped? How?”_

_“Our powers as the guards to Lucemon’s cell are closely linked to you and friends until you become unable too old to hold onto your duties as Legendary Warriors or die. When your friends…perished…suddenly, the spirits of ice, wind, thunder and darkness suffered a great blow and the wards around Lucemon’s and the Royal Knight’s cells weakened considerably. The spirit of light and myself were unable to keep them contained for very long. Since then the two of us have been trying desperately to contact you.”_

_“What about the spirits of wood, earth, steel and water? Why aren’t they helping you guard?” Takuya asked._

_“Since Cherubimon corrupted their spirits and they had no human counterpart, they can only exist as spirits without any real power,” Agunimon clarified._

_“But Koji and I used their spirits!”_

_“Yes, you did. But you and the Warrior of Light were not destined to wield them other than during the fusion processes.”_

_“I guess that makes sense,” Takuya murmured. “So Lucemon is free then?”_

_“I’m afraid so. Currently the spirit of light and my other half are attempting to locate Lucemon’s whereabouts but we have had no luck so far. I know this is a selfish request but the Digital World needs you and the Warrior of Light to return to stop Lucemon’s inevitable rise to power. Since tragedy has befallen you, I believe other groups of Digidestined are being called to the Digital World as well.”_

_“Other groups of Digidestined? There others in the world?”_

_“Yes, but they are not from the same world as you.”_

_“What do you mean?” Takuya inquired, puzzled._

_“I do not have the time to explain, young warrior,” Agunimon’s voice began fading. “All I ask of you is to go to the bottom level of Shibuya station and board the Trailmon waiting. The Digital World is in need of its Legendary Warriors once more.”_

DGDG

Takuya woke up to sunlight streaming through the curtain that Koji had just pulled aside.

“You’re awake. I thought I was going to have to starting banging pans together to wake you,” Despite the teasing tone Takuya heard the underlying note of sadness in Koji’s voice.

“I had an interesting dream last night,” Takuya said suddenly, surprising both himself and Koji.

“What was it about?” Koji questioned, coming to sit beside him on the floor.

“Well it first started off as a nightmare – the usual one – but then it turned into a conversation with Agunimon. Apparently Lucemon managed to escape and Agunimon wants us to go to the Digiworld to confront him and stop his plan of taking over the Digiworld.”

“You don’t say,” Koji mused. “How are we supposed to get there?”

“There’s supposed to be a Tailmon waiting on the lowest level of Shibuya station.”

“Well we should get going,” Koji sighed standing up. “It’s not nice to keep people waiting for too long.”

“We’re we supposed to go visit their graves?” Takuya inquired as he stood up.

“Well Shibuya station is near the cemetery, but I think we should go save the Digiworld first. I think they’ll understand. After all, they were warriors once too,” Koji responded as Takuya changed out of his pajamas.

“I suppose so. Let me at least grab some breakfast before we leave,” Takuya called as he headed towards the kitchen.

After making a quick breakfast, Takuya and Koji headed off to the train station. The train station wasn’t very busy when they got there, so getting an elevator all to themselves wasn’t very hard. As they headed down to the lowest floor, a heavy silence settled over them. Takuya’s mind was filled with memories of the Digiworld with their friends. The elevator doors opened and in the circular platform was a single Trailmon, waiting for them.

“I always imagined going back to the Digiworld, but it was always with everyone,” Takuya said thickly.

“But we don’t have a choice in the matter this time, do we?” Koji responded hoarsely.

“I guess not,” stated Takuya as he pulled open the doors to a cabin and boarded the Trailmon.

Koji entered the cabin after a moment of hesitation. The Trailmon started off down the track. Takuya sighed and looked out the window. They were headed off to the Digiworld but the cabin felt so empty without everyone else.

DGDG

_Odaiba, Japan: Kamiya residence_

“Tai! Matt and Izzy are here!” Tai Kamiya heard his mother call up the stairs.

He through aside his book and raced down the stairs. “Hey guys!” he smiled reaching the bottom of the stairs. “How’s your summer been?”

“Not bad,” Matt shrugged. “The band’s doing fine.”

“I’ve been modifying my computer!” Izzy exclaimed. “I’ve been getting closer to connecting with the Digiworld! I’m expecting to make contact with it any day now! Hopefully someone will respond.”

Tai and Matt laughed at the computer wizard’s excitement. “Well let’s head up to my room,” Tai managed to say once his laughter had died down.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to keep working on my computer while we talk. I feel like I’m so close to breaking through the wall,” Izzy said as they climbed up the stairs to Tai’s room.

“Are you saying that the Digiworld has a firewall that keeps hackers out?” Matt asked.

“Kind of,” Izzy paused for a second. “It’s more like there’s a wall to keep normal people from contacting the Digital World. To most people the wall just looks like the end of the internet. But if you know what to look the wall is quite obvious,” Izzy explained quickly as he unpacked his computer. “Now if I can just figure this out…”

“Well we’ve lost him,” Tai joked. “So the band is going well?”

“Yeah we have a gig next week. I hope it goes well,” Matt confided. “Have you started soccer yet?”

“Yep! Practice started last week. It looks like it’ll be a great year! Still can’t believe I’m captain!”

“Yeah. Who in their right mind would vote you captain of the soccer team? You’re the laziest and least responsible person I know!”

“I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly responsible!” Tai protested. “And everyone trusts my judgment! You just don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Well you _did_ manage to lead us through the Digiworld. So I guess you’re not a complete loss after all.”

Tai frowned at his best friend before changing the subject. “So have you thought about what you want to do for high school?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe something with music. How about you? Going to go pro on us?”

Tai shrugged, “Possibly. I bet we don’t even have to ask Izzy where he’s planning on going to high school. Probably some tech school.”

Matt laughed in agreement. “You’re probably right. And Joe’s going through with his plan to be a doctor I think.”

“I think you’re right. And Mimi said something about going to America. She’s the adventurous one in our group.”

“Prodigious!!” Izzy exclaimed, interrupting Tai’s and Matt’s conversation.

Immediately the two crowded around him. “What is it?” Tai asked.

“I’ve broken through the wall!” Izzy proudly stated.

“That’s great! Have you found anyone to communicate with? Like Gennai?” Tai said, firing off the questions one right after another.

“Gee Tai, Izzy’s just gotten through the wall. Give him some time!” Matt exclaimed, giving Tai a small shove.

All three boys watched as Izzy’s fingers flew across the keyboard, typing a message to send.

_Hello? Is anyone there?_

They all held their breath as Izzy pressed enter. After a few minutes of no response, Izzy sighed, “I guess it was too good to be true. I wasn’t even sure how the message would be sent in the first place perhaps it’s a lost cause…” Izzy’s voice trailed off as words began to appear on the screen.

_Hello? Who is this?_

Izzy immediately typed a response back.

_Izzy Koushiro, the Digidestined of Knowledge, with Tai Kamiya, the Digidestined of Courage, and Matt Ishida, the Digidestined of Friendship. Who are we speaking to?_

_Izzy, Tai, Matt, it’s Gennai speaking through Andromon (who’s plugged into the data stream)! Thank goodness we’ve found a way to contact you!_

_Is something going on Gennai?_

_Some super powerful Digimon are harassing us!! They call themselves the Royal Knights and keep asking about something called the Fractal Code. There hasn’t been any attacks yet, just some rough questioning. But I’m afraid it could escalate quickly._

_Do you have any idea what this Fractal Code is?_

_I have no idea!! I’ve never even heard anything like this mentioned before! Is there any chance that you all could come back to the Digital World? Is it escalates you’re the only people I can think of that could possibly stand against them!_

_We’ll talk to everyone else. I’m sure there’ll be no objection. How do we get there?_

_You’ve gotten pass the wall Izzy! You can sure make a portal connecting to here! Just point your Digivice at the screen and you’ll be connect to the Digital World through your Digivice! It’s a simple as that!_

_Alright we’ll talk to everyone and hopefully be there in a few days._

_Thank you Tai, Izzy, Matt._

Izzy ended the conversation and looked at the others. “So should I send an email out to everyone? When and where should we meet?”

“We can meet at my house,” Matt offered. “My dad is going to be out all day and TK was going to visit me. We can all meet up at around noon, if that works with everyone.”

Izzy nodded and sent out the email to the rest of the group. “Well I should be leaving now. My parents are planning on a big home cooked meal. We have some old friends visiting. See you tomorrow at noon.”

“Bye Izzy,” Tai waved before turning to Matt. “So…that was an unexpected conversation.”

“I agree,” Matt nodded. “I wonder who these Royal Knights are and what a Fractal Code is.”

“I hope nothing real bad is going on. I’d hate for anything to happen to the digimon.”

“That’s for sure. Especially the digimon at Primary Village.”

“So do you have to leave now? Don’t you have band practice?” Tai inquired.

“I do. Thanks for reminding me. Sorry it was such a sort visit,” Matt apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tai waved his hand in dismissal. “It was nice that you were able to come over. Have fun at band practice!”

DGDG

The next day the whole gang was sitting quite cozily in the Ishida’s small living room.

“What’s so important that we have to practically sit on each other’s lap in Matt’s living room?” Sora questioned.

“The other day Izzy, Matt and I managed to make contact with the Digiworld,” Tai explained, causing the room to burst into whispers. “Gennai answered us and apparently the Digiworld could be looking at a potentially dangerous fight. There hasn’t been any attacks but Gennai is worried about a group of Digimon who call themselves the Royal Knights. They’ve been interrogating digimon about something called a Fractal Code. But, not even Gennai has heard of such a thing. Apparently their interrogations have become more and more rough. Gennai has asked us to come back and be there as backup in case it escalates into something the digimon can’t handle.”

“I thought the Digiworld didn’t need us anymore,” Mimi stated rather harshly.

“Mimi! What’s gotten into you?” Kari exclaimed. “Why are you acting like you did before we went on our adventure?”

“I guess I’m just stressed out. Moving to America is more work that I realized,” Mimi apologized. “I just don’t want it to interfere with my moving. Too many things have cropped unexpectedly as it is.”

“I agree with Mimi,” Joe stated. “I know time moves differently in the Digital World and our world, but I have to focus on studying for exams.”

“How about we make a deal,” TK spoke up. “We’ll all go over to the Digiworld for, say, two days. If nothing major happens during those two days then we’ll come back home. Izzy can monitor the Digiworld in case something crops up. If something does happen those who are available can go help out and only if we need everyone will people have to leave what they’re doing to come help. How does that sound?”

“When did you get so smart TK?” Matt complimented his younger brother, causing TK to blush. “That’s an amazing plan.”

“So does anyone have any objections to TK’s plan?” Tai asked. “No? Well then, Izzy set us up for a portal.”

“So this portal is a little different,” Izzy explained while typing away on the Ishida’s main computer. “All you have to do it point your Digivice at the screen and you’ll be transported to the Digiworld. Any questions? No? Then everyone take out your Digivices and point them at the screen.”

The whole group held out their Digivices to the screen and felt a pull as soon as Izzy pressed enter. The world around them looked like bits of data flying around after they were essentially sucked into the computer screen. They could see a light in the distance but before they got there a strong gust of wind split up the group of Digidestined and sent them flying in different directions.

_Shinjuku, Japan: Wong residence_

Henry Wong was sitting at his desk staring at his computer screen. It had been three years since their adventures in the Digiworld and only two years since Takato had found the portal to the Digiworld. Since then, their partner Digimon had visited them frequently, a couple at a time. However, today was different than their normal visits. Currently all their partner Digimon had come for a visit and Terriermon was sitting on his head, uncharacteristically silent. Henry sighed as he listened to Suzie playing with Lopmon in the next room.

“What’s wrong Henry?” Terriermon questioned.

“Why are all of you visiting today? Normally it’s just two or three of you at a time,” Henry sighed as Terriermon fidgeted on top of his head, rather respond. “Terriermon, what is it?”

“Calumon and Cyberdramon told us to leave today,” Terriermon finally responded, hopping off of Henry’s head to face him. “I have no idea why they told us to leave, but it sounded serious. I felt something change in the Digiworld this morning. Perhaps that’s why they had us leave. But we all listened in the end. I hope Calumon and Cyberdramon are fine.”

“I’m sure they are,” Henry responded absently as he picked up his cell phone.

“What are you doing Henry?” Terriermon moved closer to Henry.

“Texting everyone to meet at the park at noon,” Henry mumbled as his thumbs typed away.

“Why?”

“We need to talk about why you are all here today. If something is wrong with the Digiworld we should decide if we want to take action or not,” Henry explained.

“Well what are we going to do for an hour?” Terriermon questioned.

“Let’s play some games,” Henry replied turning on his gaming system and TV.

“You’re on!” Terriermon crowed as he caught the controller that was tossed to him.

DGDG

The hour passed quickly and Henry found himself standing outside Suzie’s room with Terriermon riding on top of his head. He knocked before opening the door.

“Hey Suzie,” he called, causing the ten year old to turn around. “Want to go to the park?”

“I’d love to!” Suzie explained as she jumped to her feet and ran out of her room. “C’mon Lopmon!”

The brown Digimon hopped after the excited child. Henry chuckled softly as he followed them and slipped on his shoes. Lopmon jumped onto Suzie’s shoulder as Henry grabbed her hand. Once they reached the park, they were greeted with a chorus of hellos. Suzie let go of Henry’s hand and raced towards where Ai, Mako, and Impmon were playing.

“So you set up the meeting and then you’re the last one to arrive. Nice one Henry,” Rika teased.

Henry stuck his tongue out in retaliation. “So have anyone else found it strange that everyone’s partner – except for you, Ryo – showed up today?”

“Now that you mention it,” Kenta said thoughtfully, “It hasn’t happened before has it? And Guardromon was acting a little strange.”

“That’s because the Digiworld felt strange this morning,” Renamon inputted. “We’re all worried about our home.”

“And Calumon and Cyberdramon insisting that we go through the portal immediately after we woke up didn’t help alleviate our worries either,” Terriermon piped up from atop of Henry’s head.

“That’s strange,” Ryo voiced what they were all thinking.

“Calumon!” Henry heard Suzie’s voice shriek.

The group turned to see Calumon being flung around by Suzie and Cyberdramon standing off to the side.

“Cyberdramon,” Ryo said walking over to his partner. “Did you manage to figure out what’s going on?”

“Not really,” Cyberdramon answered. “There’s definitely something going on with the core of the Digiworld. However I’m unsure as to what is exactly going on.”

“So I’d hate to interrupt,” Impmon cut in, “But is the portal supposed to be doing that?”

Everyone turned to see the portal acting strangely. It flitted between colors and the edge of the portal contorted. Suddenly it shrank down to a pinprick and then enlarged back to its original size. Except this time it wasn’t a pulsating blue like before. This new portal was purple.

“Why is it purple?” Ai tugged on Jerri’s dress.

“I don’t know,” Jerri admitted, looking towards her friends for answers.

“Well whatever the reason it doesn’t look very stable,” Kenta murmured to Kazu, eyeing the contorted edge of the portal.

All of a sudden a wave of lavender light flew out of the portal. It washed over the Tamers and everyone felt a slight tug towards the portal.

“What’s going on?” Takato asked frantically.

The light washed over them again, but brighter and the tug was stronger. The smaller Tamers and Digimon moved towards the portal.

“Henry! Suzie!” a voice called.

Another pulse of light quickly came and tugged all of the group towards the portal.

“Daddy help!” Suzie screamed.

A disheveled Janyuu Wong appeared at the edge of the park in time to see Ai, Mako and Jerri sucked into the portal. “Henry! Suzie! Get away from there!” he pleaded.

Another burst of light had Henry closing his eyes as his feet left the ground. As the light faded, he opened his eyes and watched as the world disappeared from sight. He looked frantically around for Suzie but she was nowhere to be seen. There was only purple light around him. He hit something hard and began to lose consciousness. The last thing the Tamer saw was the tan and green striped ear belonging to Terriermon.

_Tokyo, Japan: Digimon Data Squad Headquarters_

Yoshino Fujieda – Yoshi, for short – taped the box closed and leaned against it. She looked around the headquarters mournfully. It felt like it was just yesterday that she had met Marcus and Agumon, but, in reality, it had been three years. Three years since DATS had shut down. Three years since Marcus had chosen to live in the Digital World. Three years of slowly dismantling the headquarters and packing it into boxes. She couldn’t believe that the Digital World was forever closed from them. It was sad, but it was a reality she would have to live with.

“Is that the last box Miss Fujieda?” Richard Sampson inquired.

“Yes sir,” Yoshi responded, looking at the man who had been her boss for the last few years.

“We had better start moving the boxes out to the vans then. Mr. Norstein, good of you to join us,” Commander Sampson directed the last part to a slightly ruffled Thomas, who had just walked through the door. “Everyone grab a box and head to the van outside!”

“Yes sir!”

Yoshi sighed and grabbed a small box and headed outside. She set the box by the van and looked up. Something was slightly off. “Thomas,” she said softly, “Does something seem off from the sky?”

“Now that you mention it,” Thomas replied, looking up, “It looks like it did right before the rift appeared in the sky.”

“But that should be impossible!” Yoshi exclaimed.

“Apparently not,” Thomas responded dryly. “Look at the sky.”

A small tear appeared, a figure flew out of it and the connection immediately closed. The silhouette sped towards the ground and crash landed on the other side of the headquarters.

“Commander Sampson!” Yoshi called. “We have a breach!”

The Commander came running out if the headquarters. “Where?” he demanded.

“This way,” Thomas lead the remaining members of DATS around the corner of the building and they paused at the edge of a small smoking crater.

“What the hell?” a familiar voice groaned.

“Marcus!?!?” Yoshi yelled in surprise.

“Yoshi?” the teenager responded, walking out of the dust. “What are you guys doing in the Digital World?”

“I think the better question would be: why are you back in the human world?” Thomas corrected.

“I don’t know,” Marcus said, sitting down on a curb heavily. “One moment I was fighting some Orgemon and the next I was flying through sky and landing here. Perhaps it has to do with the crumbling of the Digital World.”

“The Digital World is crumbling?” Sampson interrogated. “Please explain.”

“Agumon and I noticed it a couple of weeks ago,” Marcus began. “We were walking along and we noticed something strange about a bush. The leaves were falling upwards. At least we thought it was the leaves. Turns out that it was actually green data bits. Anyways, we watched at the whole bush just floated up into the sky in these bits and disappeared from existence. We asked around and found out that things like that had been happening for the last few years. But some digimon told us it was happening more frequently.

“We wrote it off as a onetime occurrence and forgot about it. That is, until we saw a house disappear with its occupants still inside. There were no sign of the digimon after the house had disappeared. That’s when Agumon and I became concerned. We started trying to get the disappearances to stop, but nothing we tried worked! It was starting to get frustrating.

“Then one day we were walking around and we noticed a town in chaos. We went to go see if there was anything we could do to help. The very _ground_ was disappearing!! Agumon and I guided the remaining digimon out of their town and to the next settlement. We returned the next day to find nothing but a gaping black hole where the town had been. The edges around the hole were slowly disappearing but not at the rate the town had been before. We realized that this problem had quickly gotten out of hand and we contacted Gaomon, Lalamon, Falcomon, Kudamon and the two PawnChessmon to help us out. The last thing I heard from them was that Gaomon and Kudamon may have found a lead to the reason for the crumbling of the Digital World.”

“That’s a strange story,” Thomas mused.

“I’m not lying!” Marcus jumped to his feet.

“We aren’t saying you are,” Yoshi scolded him. “But this will take some time to come to terms with. You’ve had a couple of weeks. We’ve not even had two minutes.”

“What was the state of the Digital World when you left?” Keenan asked. He had been fairly silent throughout Marcus’ explanation.

“There were a few patches of land left. And the digimon living on those patches were beginning to go into a full blown panic,” Marcus sighed. “And we were…” Marcus tailed off before exclaiming, “Look!!”

The members of DATS looked up as a ripple ran across the sky.

“What in the world?” Yoshi stated the one thing on everyone’s mind.

“Commander, may we check if there is a connection to the Digital World?” Thomas requested.

“Go ahead,” Richard Sampson affirmed.

The group gathered around as the genius found the equipment needed and set it up. Thomas ran a few diagnostics checks before he booted it up and ran the program needed. “Commander,” Thomas said after a few seconds of studying the results. “There is a definite connection now. I’m not sure what happened, but the connection is there.”

“Should we set up the Digital Dive and go investigate the status of the Digital World?” Keenan asked.

Their Commander sighed heavily. “I suppose it would be beneficial to know if there are digimon on the other side of the connection who can enter our world and create havoc. Miki and Megumi, set up the Digital Dive.”

DGDG

After a few hours of straight work and three trips to the local hardware store, the Digital Dive was assembled. Miki and Megumi ran the last few checks while Yoshi, Thomas, Marcus and Keenan prepared for what could quite possibly be their last Dive. Sampson called the four over once Miki and Megumi had given him the all clear.

“I want you four to be as careful as you can,” he started without preamble. “You do not have your partners or any way for you to communicate with us back on Earth. We have no idea what condition the Digital World is in and I would prefer to not to have to visit your families and tell them you died in a place that is supposed to be inaccessible. There is one other point I’d like to make. Miki and Megumi have informed me that the Digital Dive is as stable as it can be in this environment. As such, there is a possibility that you will not all end up in the same place at the end of the Digital Dive. If this happens I urge you to find each other as quickly as you can. That is all. Good luck out there.”

The four members of DATS stepped onto the platform of the Digital Dive and awaited the transfer. The familiar screen of light appeared around them and soon they found themselves in the middle of the Dive. Yoshi had to suppress her panic as she began to get dragged away from her teammates and flung out into the Digital World. Which met her in a form of a tree to her back; knocking her unconscious.


	2. Spirits, Arguments and Suspicions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel spoiled all you who find this work of fiction! I'm catching you up to date with what's currently posted on FFN. After this next chapter, don't expect another for a little while!
> 
> Read on my lovelies and don't forget that I don't own a dime of the Digimon franchise!

Chapter 2: Spirits, Arguments and Suspicions

“After they left, I began to wonder about the creation of the Digital World. Which version came first? Is it ours? Or another one out there that we have no knowledge about? Or were they all created at the same time?”

~excerpt from _The Complete History of the Digital World_ by Bokomon

“Thomas! Thomas!” a loud voice called, splitting his head in half. Thomas winced and opened his eyes to see Marcus standing over him.

“What’s going on?” he muttered, standing up with the help of Marcus’ outstretched hand.

“Don’t quite know,” the brunette responded. “Only thing I know for certain is that this is not the Digital World we are used to.”

“How do you know that?” Thomas demanded sharply. His headache wasn’t helping his mood at all.

“Look up,” came Marcus’ cryptic response.

Growling under his breath in irritation, Thomas looked into the night sky and saw and unfamiliar sight. There, in amongst the stars, as if it were the most natural thing, shone three moons: one blue, one red, and one yellow-green. Before Thomas could question his companion, a loud crash came from behind them. He whipped around and saw Agumon, Gaomon, some unfamiliar digimon and people running towards them. Hot on their heels was an enraged Cherrymon.

“Gaomon!” Thomas called, activating his DNA stream and holding his hand over his Digivice; headache forgotten in a rush of adrenaline.

“Sir, yes, sir!” his partner responded and quickly digivolved into Gaogamon.

Thomas ran towards the battling digimon; Marcus right behind him as soon as he had digivolved Agumon to GeoGreymon. They stopped beside the unknown humans and, Thomas suspected, their digimon partners. The Cherrymon proved to be no match for the two champion digimon and soon fell down. Thomas watched in curiosity as the Cherrymon didn’t dissolve like usual. Instead it greyed out and changed into a shimmering blue and white stripped pattern that swirled around for a bit before disappearing into the ground; unraveling the digimon in the process.

“Are you guys ok?” He heard Marcus ask.

“We could have handled him if you hadn’t butted in!” a white and purple cat digimon spat from its spot in the sole girl’s arms.

“Gatomon!” the girl exclaimed scandalized. “They helped us out! You should be thanking them!”

The cat digimon, Gatomon, responded with a glare before hopping up on her partner’s shoulder and turning her back.

“I’m terribly sorry about Gatomon’s behavior,” the girl said turning to face Thomas and Marcus. “She’s usually not this nasty. I’m Kari by the way. As you probably guessed this is my partner, Gatomon. The blond boy over there is TK and his partner Patamon. Have you seen anyone else? We’re looking for our brothers.”

“We’ve only seen you four since entering the Digital World. Sorry,” Thomas heard Marcus respond. He was still looking at the spot where the digimon had disappeared rather strangely. “I’m Marcus and this is my friend and partner Agumon. The antisocial guy is Thomas and his partner Gaomon is beside him.”

“Tai, my brother, has an Agumon for a partner as well! However his doesn’t have those red straps around his claws. One way to tell them apart, I suppose!” Kari remarked.

“Who are you?” Thomas addressed the last two strangers rather rudely. His headache had come back twice as bad it seemed.

“Name’s Kazu. That’s Guardromon, Kenta and his partner, MarineAngemon,” the brunette responded quickly. “We’re looking for our friends too. But I don’t recognize this Digiworld. Ours doesn’t have three moons.”

“Now that you mention it, ours doesn’t either,” TK mused.

“And digimon have never done that after being beaten,” Thomas murmured, still trying to wrap his aching head around what had happened.

A soft giggle drew their attention to a nearby tree. Thomas looked up and spied a figure sitting on a branch high up.

“Who are you?” Gatomon snarled, still acting very vicious. Her partner stared at her in shock and disbelief.

The figure jumped down and Thomas gasped as she floated down softly. As she neared the ground her descent stopped a few inches above the ground. The blond girl floated in front of them, smiling in amusement at their reactions. “I’m not trying to be rude or anything,” Thomas started. “But _what_ are you?”

The blonde’s smile turned slightly sad before answering. “I am someone who once was,” she replied cryptically.

“You mean you’re a ghost?” Kenta exclaimed.

“In a way, yes,” she responded softly. “I was once charged with protecting the Digiworld, however, my life ended in the human world without warning. I woke up here as a compilation of data. I am, in simplest terms, a soul connected to a group of data bits.”

“Since this world is made out of data, shouldn’t you be able to interact physically?” Kenta inquired softly.

“You would think that,” she gave a slightly bitter smile. “My best guess is that since I don’t have a physical body attached to my soul, I can’t interact physically.”

“That’s kind of sad,” Kari said.

“That’s life for ya,” she responded with a shrug. “Oh! Where are my manners? My name’s Zoe, by the way. And welcome to the Digiworld that I was tasked with guarding. You’re here to make sure that the Digital Universe and the Human Universe doesn’t disappear for good.”

DGDG

A black haired figure leaned against a tree in the shadows. His eyes tracked a small group of six argue their way through the forest. A movement over his should had his tearing his eyes away to see what potential danger became attracted to their noise.

“They aren’t a very cooperative group, are they?” a familiar voice chuckled and the alert teen relaxed a little. A younger boy drifted through the foliage to join him in the shadows

“What are you doing here Tommy?” he asked his visitor.

“Wanted to see how you were holding up Koichi,” Tommy responded softly. “Since Koji is back in the Digiworld.”

“I’m fine,” Koichi snapped back, turning his attention back to the arguing group. “Speaking of Koji, why aren’t you following him and Takuya?”

“They know their way around already,” Tommy smiled. “Besides I think being back in the Digiworld will be enough of a mental strain for them today. No need for their dead friends to appear in front of them as well,” Koichi snorted in response. “Anyways, what’s up with your group?”

“The brunette with the Agumon for a partner, Tai, found everyone except Keenan, the black haired boy without glasses. Keenan is annoyed that everyone is following his orders without question and is questioning every suggestion that Tai makes.”

“Shouldn’t you step in now?” Tommy asked as they watched Keenan tackle Tai, transforming their argument into a fight.

“Unless a digimon comes that they are inadequately prepared for, I’ll stick to the shadows,” Koichi stated. “If the Digital Universe has any chance of survival, they’ll need to learn how to take care of their disagreements themselves.”

DGDG

Keenan was furious and nothing Falcomon said could change it. It was fine with him that Tai had taken control of the group. But what he didn’t like was how everyone followed the brunet without question. The glasses-wearing kid, Joe, his digimon partner, Gomamon, he could understand. Tai and Joe seemed to know each other already. But the other brunet, Takato, the two girls, Jeri and Suzie, and their partners, Guilmon, Leomon, and Lopmon, had just met Tai and seemed to trust his every judgment. Sure the guy was charismatic and had a way of alleviating people’s fears – which he had done flawlessly when they first met and realized this wasn’t the Digital World they knew – but Tai could not sense the dark aura coming from within the forest.

As Tai started to lead them even closer to the dark aura, Keenan finally snapped. “Don’t you sense it?” he demanded sharply, causing everyone to stop and look at him.

“Sense what?” Tai asked, cocking his head in confusion.

“That aura that you are so conveniently leading us to!” Keenan’s voice filled with fury.

“What aura?” Tai asked, his voice layered with what Keenan recognized as a slight mocking concern. “I don’t sense anything? Are you sure you’re sensing something?”

That last question ended the last shred of Keenan’s patience. He launched himself at Tai and knocked him to the ground. The two quickly engaged in an all-out fight, causing their companions to step back and give them space. Keenan threw Tai off him and into a tree. The brunet got up slowly before murmuring his partner’s name. Keenan barely had time to react before the Agumon swiped at the spot he was occupying. Without saying anything Falcomon launched himself at the other digimon and knocked Agumon back towards Tai.

Keenan activated his DNA and held it over his digivice. “Falcomon!” he cried and watched as his partner digivolved into Peckmon at the same time Agumon digivolved into Greymon. The two champion digimon clashed without any prompting form their respective partners. Greymon was by far bigger than Peckmon, but what Peckmon lacked in size he made up with in speed. For every one of Greymon’s attacks, Keenan was proud to notice that Peckmon got in two or three. So involved with their battle they failed to notice a digimon approaching them. A large digimon landed in the middle of the clearing and knocked both sides against the trees lining the edge of the clearing.

“And here I was expecting a challenging enemy,” the digimon spoke while the dust cloud from its impact started to settle. “But it seems the destined that were sent to save this world would rather fight like children. Well, that just makes my job easier. My Lord said to eliminate any children and without any of the Legendary Warriors with you this won’t be enough to count as a warm up.”

“Who are you? And who is you lord?” Keenan heard Takato demand as the dust cloud finally settled.

“Dynasmon,” the digimon responded, spreading his purple wings. “And who I serve has nothing to do with eliminating a threat.”

Keenan had managed to make his way over to the rest of the group and prepared to attack the digimon that he had once fought alongside of. Dynasmon started to glow. “Breath of Wyvern!” he roared and a gigantic wyvern headed towards them. Keenan squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the impact.

“That was a close one,” an unfamiliar voice remarked.

Keenan opened his eyes to see two people standing in front of them. He was about to demand who they were when he noticed a wall of ice and shadows erected between them and Dynasmon.

“Perhaps you should have acted quicker then,” the younger of the two commented with a smile.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Dynasmon roared, breaking the wall with his fist.

“Sucks when your plans don’t end like they should?” the younger boy grinned at Dynasmon.

“Well I’ll just have to take you two out as well,” Dynasmon growled, readying another attack.

“Do you really want to do that?” the older boy asked, his voice dangerously soft. Shadows were surrounding him and dark tendrils were curling away from his body. Shivers ran up Keenan’s back as he stared at the newcomer. Whoever he was, Keenan decided right then that he never wanted to make this stranger mad.

“Fine,” Dynasmon snapped as he rose a few feet in the air. “But don’t expect this to be the last you’ll see of me!”

“I’ll make sure my brother knows of your appearance,” he called out to Dynasmon’s retreating figure.

“Haven’t seen you use your element in a long time Koichi,” the younger boy said as the shadows seemed to slip back into his body.

“Haven’t needed to,” the other boy, Koichi responded. “My name’s Koichi, and this is Tommy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

DGDG

“I’m tired,” a young voice called from behind. “Can we stop now?”

Ryo turned to see Ai and Mako trailing far behind with Impmon in between them. Not very far in front of them was the brunette, Mimi, and the red-head, Izzy, whom he had met this morning. Leading the pack was the eldest of their group, Yoshi. She seemed to be a bit aggravated at Ai’s request.

“Is she not used to dealing with children?” the person next to him asked.

He turned to look at the strangest, in his opinion, of their group: JP. He had introduced himself quite jollily and didn’t seemed to be as surprised with how the Digiworld looked. His attitude towards the situation wasn’t the only thing that rubbed Ryo the wrong way. His lack of a partner and how he dismissed having one so easily when he was asked and the way he _moved_ had Ryo wanting to keep a close eye on the brunet. JP sometimes didn’t seem to be all the way there at times. And Ryo wasn’t talking mentally. There were times when Ryo turned his head to look at JP and could see the landscape behind him slightly. However, JP hadn’t made any threatening actions, so Ryo decided to keep his observations to himself and just keep an eye on the partnerless member of their group.

“I’d say so,” he responded to JP question, before turning his attention to Ai and Mako. “Come here you two.”

The two siblings walked towards Ryo without another complaint. Ryo picked up Ai and set her on one of Cyberdramon’s shoulders and Mako on the other.

“Both of you hold on tightly,” Ryo instructed.

“What about me?” Impmon demanded.

“What about you?” Ryo smiled.

“Don’t I get a ride?”

“You’re a big, bad digimon. I think you’ll survive some more walking.”

“But I’m tired too,” Mimi whined. “And hungry.”

“We’re nowhere near a place to rest,” Yoshi sighed.

“If we keep heading that way we should reach a town,” JP stated pointing slightly left of the way they had been going before they had stopped.

“How do you know that?” Palmon, Mimi’s partner, asked wearily.

“There’s train tracks over there,” JP shrugged. “I figured they must eventually lead to a town of some sort.”

“Prodigious!” Izzy exclaimed suddenly and all the group turned to look at him. “I’ve been trying to sync my computer with this Digital World and managed to get a kind of map. JP’s right. If we head that way we should reach a town soon.”

Yoshi nodded and headed off in front again. Ryo cast JP a quick look. It made sense that there would be a town along the train tracks, but he couldn’t have known which way to go, unless it was just a lucky guess. “Are you tired JP?” Ryo asked suddenly.

JP looked at Ryo in surprise. “I suppose so,” he mused. “But I’m used to walking around so probably not as much as other people. How about you?”

“A little,” Ryo replied before turning his attention forward. It was true that JP wasn’t obese, but he wasn’t the fittest person he knew. Ryo shook his head slightly. JP hadn’t given him any reason to dislike him to distrust him, yet he continued to do so. Ryo sighed softly and prayed that nothing bad was going to happen related to JP and his inability to say anything about his suspicions.

They soon reached a town filled with friendly digimon. Everyone was invited to eat and rest for the night. However Ryo noticed that the digimon paid close attention to JP. More so than the rest of them. JP also didn’t seem to be eating much. Which was strange because JP seemed like someone who would decline food. However, Ryo soon forgot about his suspicions and enjoyed the yummy food and warm bed.

DGDG

That night Ryo was woken by a huge boom. He looked around and noticed that everyone was still in the room except for JP. Concerned he tore out of the house and slid to a stop at the sight in front of them. JP stood in the middle of the town facing a huge pink digimon. Lightning struck the space between the two and the strange digimon backed up a step, however, JP seemed to be unconcerned with the close proximity of the lightning strike. Ryo was about to step forward and lend him a hand when the other digimon spoke.

“This is far from over,” she growled. “You won’t always be around to protect them.” The pink digimon sprang into the clearing sky and was soon out of sight.

“JP are you alright?” Izzy asked stepping around Ryo.

“Yeah I am,” JP responded with a grin. “I’m really grateful for whatever chased her off though.”

“I wonder if it was the lightning?” Izzy guessed. “She sure jumped away from that strike. But why didn’t you?”

“Lightning’s just never scared me,” JP shrugged. “It’s always fascinated me.”

Ryo didn’t quite accept JP’s answers but he let it slide. It wasn’t that JP wasn’t telling the truth. In fact, Ryo was sure that everything he said was the truth; just not the whole truth at times.

DGDG

Matt groaned and sat up. Next to him lay Gabumon. He nudged his partner awake and noticed a crumpled Sora a few feet away. Once Gabumon opened his eyes, Matt went over to make sure Sora wasn’t hurt from their unorthodox trip. He knelt down by her crumpled form and shook her shoulder.

“Matt?” she questioned once she opened her eyes. “What happened?”

“Don’t know,” Matt helped her to her feet. “I just woke up and you’re the only one I’ve seen so far. Hopefully everyone else is doing alright.”

“We should walk around and see if anyone is around,” Biyomon said as she and Gabumon walked over to their partners.

“I hear some noise coming from over there,” Gabumon pointed to a gap in the trees. “Sounds like a city would if we weren’t in the Digital World.”

“It can’t hurt to check it out,” Matt agreed.

He took the lead and stopped once they broke through the tree line. Below them stretched a town made out of metal. Out of a few building rose smoke and others fire. The city bustled with digimon going from one building to the next, or simply strolling down the streets.

“I don’t think this is the Digiworld we know,” Matt mumbled to himself.

“Hello!” a voice called out and the Digidestined of Friendship turned to see a black-haired boy and orange-haired girl running towards them. Each one of them had a digimon near them. Once they were within talking distance, they slowed down and the black-haired boy spoke.

“I’m guessing from your reactions you aren’t familiar with this version of the Digital World either,” he said sounding a little disappointed. “My name’s Henry, and this is my partner Terriermon. That’s Rika and her partner Renamon.”

“I’m Matt. This Gabumon, Sora and Biyomon,” Matt responded. “And what do you mean by this version.”

“Well first off I’ve never seen you before in the Digital World I know. And second you wouldn’t have stopped so suddenly once you saw the city if you had. Also, I’ve never seen anything like this at all in the Digital World,” Henry explained.

“Stop being so friendly Henry!” the girl, Rika, snapped. “We don’t even know if he’s a friend or not!”

“They’ve got digimon partners Rika,” Henry argued.

“And? That means next to nothing. Anyone could be traveling with digimon and not be partners.”

“Rika –” Henry started but Matt cut him off.

“You’re right. We could be enemies. But seeing that we’re just as surprised about that city as you are I’d say the chances that we aren’t enemies is pretty high,” Matt smiled.

“Is that a train?” Sora spoke up, pointing.

“Looks like it,” Rika said shortly.

“We should go check it out,” Sora remarked heading down the hill towards the city without another word.

Matt headed after her. Not liking some of the looks and whispers that the digimon gave them as they passed. They reached where the train had pulled into the city fairly easily. Matt blinked in surprise as a teen stepped out of the car without batting an eye at the city. He, in fact, ignored looking around and turned his attention to the top of the train.

“Takuya,” the long haired teen called out. “Say goodbye to the Trailmon so we can see if Bokomon is here still.”

A muffled voice came from atop the engine and a brunet slip down the side of the train. “This place hasn’t changed at all,” the brunet – Takuya, Matt assumed – looked around.

“Who are you?” Matt looked over to see Henry’s partner, Terriermon, hopping over to the strangers.

“I don’t remember seeing a Terriermon in the Flame Terminal before,” the other teen muttered, looking around and locking gazes with Matt. “Or other people for that matter.”

“Oh lighten up Koji,” Takuya said lacing his hands behind his head and walking towards them. “Name’s Takuya and doom-and-gloom over there is Koji.”

“I resent that remark,” Koji groused as he approached.

“Then don’t act like it,” Takuya snapped back good-naturedly.

“So who are you?” Koji ignored his friend as looked right at Matt.

There was something in his gaze that made Matt want to step back a good five feet, so he introduced himself quickly. “I’m Matt. That’s Gabumon, Sora and Biyomon, Henry and Terriermon, and Rika and Renamon.”

Koji nodded in greeting. Matt noticed that Takuya had drifted off during the introductions and was studying something on the wall intently.

“Hey Koji, come look at this,” he didn’t pull his eyes off what he was studying.

“I see you’ve found the Warrior’s Engravings,” a digimon remarked as they went over to Takuya.

“Warrior’s Engravings?” Matt questioned. “What’s that?”

The digimon gave Matt a disapproving look before explaining.  “Many years ago, our world was almost destroyed by an evil digimon. We were saved by a group of children wielding some of the Legendary Warrior’s spirits. After this world was rebuilt, we noticed these markings. The digimon living here at that time asked around to see if any other places had these markings. So far these are the only markings in the entire Digital World. They make great tourist attractions when they glow. However, the only ones that have ever glowed were the markings for Fire, Light, Darkness, Wind, Thunder and Ice. The last time they glowed was about two years ago. The markings for Wind, Thunder, Ice and Darkness glowed brightly for a few days and haven’t glowed since.”

“Why only those markings?” Henry piped up.

“The stories say that those were the elements that the children wielded. However, no one knows for sure,” the digimon replied before disappearing without another word.

“Two years ago, huh?” Takuya remarked, almost sadly.

Matt looked to see him tracing a mark softly. Koji standing behind him with an unreadable expression on his face. As his hand passed over one mark to trace another, the passed over mark suddenly began glowing red. Koji reached out to grab Takuya’s hand and brushed another mark that suddenly glowed white. Matt noticed that both of them looked at the wall in shock before they were being pushed away from the wall by a horde of excited digimon.

“What was that?” Matt asked once they were away from the wall.

“Don’t know,” Koji responded with a shrug. “Takuya, you alright?”

The brunet was staring at his hand with wide eyes, before turning to meet Koji’s gaze. “We need to go to Bokomon’s house.”

“Are you alright Takuya?” Koji asked in concern.

“You didn’t…” Takuya trailed off.

“I didn’t what?” Koji frowned.

“Nothing,” Takuya said brushing past his friend. “We need to get to Bokomon’s house fast.”

“Is he ok?” Sore asked Koji as they headed after the slightly dazed teen.

Koji didn’t respond at first but frowned at Takuya’s back before sighing. “I suppose only time will tell if he is.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have any questions send them to me!! I'll answer the best I can!


	3. Unwelcome Reunions and Uncovered Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the third and final chapter I'll update tonight before I go to sleep!! Enjoy!!
> 
> Ms. Foxfire sadly, contrary to her every dream, does not own Digimon.

Chapter 3: Unwelcome Reunions and Uncovered Secrets

“After doing some research I have discovered that our Digital World is special. It was the very first Digital World to exist, and as such, our Digital World is the only world to hold the Fractal Code – the data for the whole Digital Universe; not just our world. With this in mind, if Lucemon had been able to obtain the Fractal Code our whole Digital Universe would have been under his control. And that, my fellow digimon, is a very frightening and sobering realization.”

~excerpt from _The Complete History of the Digital World_ by Bokomon

The two teens in front of Joe, Koichi and Tommy, seemed indifferent to the curious gazes and fierce glares sent their way. Instead, they were conversing about the digimon, Dynasmon, which had attacked them out of the blue.

“It looks like the Royal Knights have been summoned into action,” Koichi frowned.

“You couldn’t have expected Lucemon to work without their help,” his companion, Tommy, reminded.

“That was the Dynasmon from the Royal Knights?” Joe heard Keenan burst out in confusion.

The two strangers looked back at Keenan. When neither of them answered, Keenan continued. “I’ve talked to the Royal Knights! They helped us save the human world!”

“Haven’t you figured out that this is no longer the Digital World that you know?” Koichi spat out harshly. “Your Digital World no longer exists! This is the last version still in tact and if you want to even have a home to return to you’ll do your job here and help protect the essence of the Digital World!”

“That was unnecessary Koichi,” Tommy said softly, gazing around at the shocked faces of the group.

Joe’s mind was whirling a mile a minute. He flashbacked to when Izzy was explaining what had transpired with his conversation with Gennai. To think that someone had _destroyed_ the home of their partners. “Why?” he croaked. “Why would someone do that? What do they have to gain?”

The Digidestined of Reliability watched as Tommy glanced over at Koichi and when the frowning teen glanced away, Tommy sighed softly before speaking. “It’s difficult to explain. A very powerful digimon, Lucemon, was imprisoned a few years ago for trying to destroy this Digital World. About a year and a half ago, he broke free. The best guess we have is that he was disoriented from his sudden release and appeared in an unsuspecting world in the Digital Universe. Since then he has hunted for this world so he can destroy the Digital Universe and recreate it. Sadly many peaceful worlds have fell to his rage at not landing on the correct world. Thankfully, the last few worlds he visited – your Digital Worlds – had guardians of their own. And with the last of their powers the Celestial Digimon – Lord Seraphimon, Lord Cherubimon, and Lady Ophanimon – were able to interrupt your travels to your disappearing worlds and cause you to wind up here.”

“Why should we fight to save a world that we have no ties to?” Takato finally spoke up.

“Because once Lucemon is destroyed, your worlds will be restored. He’s only been attacking and destroying worlds to absorb their data and make himself stronger,” Koichi interjected.

“So who are you?” Tai questioned. “You know too much to be strangers to this Digiworld. And that thing you did to stop Dynasmon; I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“We’re this world’s guardians. As for what we did,” Koichi shrugged. “It’s just what we do; how we fight. You have your partners. We have our......thing.”

“Very eloquent,” Tommy snorted in amusement.

“Since you two seem to know this place pretty well, where do you suggest to go next? We can’t stay in this forest forever,” Tai wondered.

“We need to eventually regroup with everyone. I think we decided on the Village of Beginnings,” Koichi glanced at Tommy and received a nod in agreement. “So we should head there.”

“There are more of you?” Joe asked in surprise.

Tommy laughed. “You make it sound like there shouldn’t be. And there are six of us. Koichi and I, Zoe, JP, Takuya and Koji. Zoe should be leading the group she met up with straight to the Village of Beginnings. JP had something he needed to check out at an old factory before he met up with us. And I’m not sure what Takuya and Koji are going to do. They haven’t been told where we’re meeting yet.”

“That’s why you were supposed to meet them at the Flame Terminal,” Koichi grinned.

Tommy ignored Koichi continued. “Now that everything has been cleared up. Are there any more questions?”

“That scary digimon said you were supposed to be dead,” Suzie clutched Lopmon close as she spoke.

Joe looked at the youngest in surprise. He had forgotten that remark but immediately wished that Suzie had as well when Koichi’s face darkened and the shadows of the forest seemed to grow before his eyes.

“We are and we aren’t dead,” Koichi murmured. “But that’s another story for another time. We should get moving.”

“Don’t mind him,” Tommy said lightly, but Joe could see pain in his eyes. “Dynasmon just drug up a painful part of his past without trying to. But we’ll explain everything once Koichi’s had time to cool down.”

Joe glanced at the retreating forms of the two teens. “Do you think we should trust them?” he asked Tai.

“I think we have no choice,” Tai responded. “However, if they wanted us dead they wouldn’t have stopped Dynasmon. So we can trust them in that respect at least.”

Joe nodded, his eyes never leaving the two leading their group out of the woods and into an unknown landscape.

DGDG

Yoshi sighed. Last night had been chaos. She recognized the attacking digimon as Crusadermon, one of the Royal Knights. However, the last time they had met it had been on more friendly terms. So what had made her flip allegiance and attack former allies? Granted, the only person Crusadermon had interacted with was JP, but it wasn’t like the kid was exceedingly vicious. Thinking back on the night, JP’s mannerisms in the face of a fight concerned her. She hadn’t seen any digimon traveling with him as a partner and he had quickly dismissed how close to he had been to getting hit with lightning. For the moment she decided she wasn’t going to do anything about his behavior the night before. But if he started to act like he was sabotaging the group she would step in.

“Yoshi are you ready to go?” Lalamon called from outside the door. “Everyone is outside waiting.”

Yoshi opened the door and greeted her partner with a smile. “You have a map right Izzy?” she asked the red-head.

“Yes ma’am,” he responded quickly. “If you don’t mind there’s an abandoned factory nearby and I would like to go check it out. It could have information on this Digital World.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ryo agreed. “We need to know more about what we are dealing with. I didn’t like the look of that digimon last night and it looked like the only reason she left was because of the lighting.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t because we all showed up?” Mimi argued.

“Quite sure,” Ryo shot back. “I’ve spent a long time around digimon and have been a pretty good judge of strength. Unless we had coordinated attacks she could have easily defeated all of us without blinking an eye.”

“If we want to get to that factory before nightfall we should get moving,” JP spoke up.

“Yes,” Yoshi agreed before turning to the digimon standing outside their homes. “Thank you all for your hospitality. Hopefully that digimon won’t come back after we leave.”

DGDG

They managed to reach the factory as the sun began to set behind the hills. Yoshi looked around for a safe place to set up camp, but the factory was the only possible place. She would have preferred not camping in a place that could have hostile digimon, but it was better than sleeping out in the open.

“We’ll have to spend the night in the factory,” Yoshi announced.

“Is that wise?” Ryo questioned.

“Don’t have any other choice to stay,” Yoshi admitted. “Unless you want to sleep outside in the open.”

“I vote the factory! C’mon Palmon, let’s find us a place to stay for the night,” Mimi announced, marching into the factory with her digimon close behind.

The rest of the group followed suit and found themselves in a huge room with conveyor belts and furnaces. Izzy immediately went to a control panel and plugged his computer into the panel. He tapped at the keys for a few minutes before groaning aloud.

“What’s the matter Izzy?” Mimi asked her friend.

“This system is so ancient and different from anything I’ve seen. For starters I don’t even recognize the symbols on the screen. They’re like nothing I’ve ever seen!” Izzy complained. “But I’ll figure it out eventually!”

“We should all get some rest,” Yoshi announced. “I’ll take first watch. Ryo can take the second watch. And Mimi and Izzy can take the last one.”

“What about me?” JP asked once he realized that Yoshi had not mentioned him taking his turn.

“You don’t have a partner digimon. Therefore you would be useless if a digimon were to attack without warning. You would be knocked out before you could wake anyone else up,” Yoshi explained tiredly. “Now everyone should try to get some rest.”

Yoshi sighed as she took up a position at the entrance of the room. She honestly didn’t know why JP was even here if he had a digimon partner. He never once mentioned one that was away on a mission or something. She shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

DGDG

JP woke up about halfway through the night. He had done a silent dance for joy when Izzy had mentioned wanting to go the factory before him. He had yet to activate his symbol, which was located at the bottom of the factory. While he had been studying the electrical stream of the Digital World, Zoe, Koichi and Tommy had all taken time to activate their symbols as a preliminary line of defense between Lucemon and the Fractal Code. Takuya’s and Koji’s symbols had never been deactivated; however, theirs had when they had died that day. Reactivating their symbols wouldn’t make the barrier as strong as it would be if they were still alive, but it was better than nothing.

As quickly and silently as he could, JP snuck out of the room. He headed down the twisting corridors, ignoring the many offshoots that would drive any intruder insane trying to find their way around. Smiling to himself he came upon the door he was heading for rather quickly. He opened it; flinching slightly at the loud creak the rusted metal made. The room behind the door held the mainframe of the factory’s system and was covered in a layer of dust. JP sneezed a few times before entering. His hand fumbled along the wall for the light switch. Finding the elusive trigger he flipped the lights to what he assumed was on. When the room remained dark he let out a soft curse and sent electricity through the circuits from his fingers.

He tried the switch again and the lights gave the room a dull illumination. It wasn’t perfect but it would keep him from tripping over anything dangerous. JP walked up to the mainframe and wiped the film of dust off the side. There, engraved into a smooth portion of the mainframe, was the symbol for the Warrior of Thunder. Mentally patting himself on the back, JP ran his thumb over the engraving and pushed the electricity he held within him into the grooves. The symbol flared up brightly before settling down to a dim glow.

“What did you do??” a voice from behind him demanded. JP pivoted around and saw Ryo outlined in the doorway. “Did you just alert enemy digimon when you did whatever you did?”

“What I just did will probably help the Digital World in the long run,” JP defended his actions.

“And what exactly was it that you did?” Ryo demanded sarcastically.

“Activate an old barrier that will buy us time against the real enemy,” JP decided that honesty would be his best choice of action here.

Before Ryo could demand anything else, a loud crash came from above. “Digimon are attacking!” Ryo glared. “If this has anything to do with what you just did I will destroy you!”

JP ignored his threat. “This way,” he said moving farther into the room. “There’s a lift that will take us up to the room where we were staying. It’ll be quicker than going the way we came to get here.”

“Why didn’t you take it to get down here?” Ryo questioned, following JP to the supposed lift.

“I forgot about it,” JP replied, opening the door to the lift and motioning for Ryo to get on. He entered the lift after him and punched the button. The lift’s mechanics whirled for a few seconds before dying. JP tried a few more times; each time yielding the same results.

“It’s dead! How are we supposed to get up there now? We should have just gone back the way we came,” Ryo stated angrily.

“Sorry if I shock you,” JP responded, finding the circuit panel. He placed his hand on it and sent electricity into the wires, while simultaneously pressing the button. The lift whirled to life along with Ryo’s pained yelp and shot up.

They arrived at the battle scene to see two different digimon cornering the rest of their group. Ryo went to join them but JP put his hand on his arm and halted his motion.

“Are you looking for me?” he asked the two digimon. “I’m surprised you came so quickly. Did Lucemon have you stationed near here knowing this was the last deactivated symbol?”

“If it isn’t the Warrior of Thunder,” one of the snarled as the two of them turned to face JP. “So eager to return to his grave.”

JP closed his eyes and let down the barrier that kept his element in check. He opened his eyes as electricity flowed from his fingertips and cackled around his body. “You picked the wrong place to pick a fight with me. You would have been better off attacking us outside of the factory.”

DGDG

Kari stared at Zoe in shock. “What do you mean? What’s happening to the Digital World?” She shook off TK’s restraining hand and marched towards the “ghost.” “Well, what’s going on?”

Kari watched, fuming, as Zoe met her gaze and then burst out laughing. The rest of the group stood in shock as Zoe calmed down. “I’m sorry. That probably wasn’t the best reaction to have, but you reminded me so much of myself when I first entered the Digital World. To answer your question, it’s a very complicated story. Why don’t you boys build a fire and I’ll tell it when we’re all settled for the night.”

Zoe then drifted back up into the tree she had come down from and turned her gaze from the confused group to the stars and moons.

“That wasn’t a very nice thing to say,” Kari was reprimanded by Kazu.

“But aren’t you at all curious as to what’s going on?” Kari demanded.

“I am,” Kazu nodded. “But I would have gone about it in a different way. Did you even consider Zoe might not want to talk about it? What if that’s the reason she’s dead?”

Whatever retort had been building on the tip of Kari’s tongue faded instantly. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”

Kazu smiled back at her instead of making a scathing remark like Kari expected. “I expected as much. You remind me of my friend Rika. She would have reacted the same way you did.”

“We should go help with getting the fire going,” Kari said in response and went to go join TK who was picking up firewood.

“Are you going to apologize?” Gatomon inquired from her shoulder as Kari bent down to pick up a stick.

“No,” Kari said firmly. “If she had reacted differently, then yes. But she understood where I was coming from. Besides she would have been asked about what she had said eventually.”

“Tai would probably have told you to apologize,” Gatomon smiled.

“Yeah, well Tai isn’t here,” Kari huffed and added the sticks she collected to the pile. She sat down next to TK and Patamon and ignored them both telling her she needed to apologize to Zoe. Soon a blazing fire grew in the freshly dug pit and warmed the bodies around the fire. Zoe skimmed over the ground and came to a rest next to Kari. The blonde girl merely gave Kari an understanding smile and looked to the rest of the group. Kari watched as Zoe took a deep breath and began to tell her story.

DGDG

“The best place to start with any story is the beginning,” Zoe began, looking at each member of her group. “It starts with a story that almost any digimon knows. A very long time ago, there was a great war between the human-like digimon and the beast digimon. Each group thought they were better than the other and neither group was willing to compromise with the other. During this turbulent time, a digimon named Lucemon had gathered enough power and allies to control the two warring groups and rule them. However, being under Lucemon’s control was worse than the many years of war before then. A group of ten digimon rose up and managed to defeat Lucemon and seal him away at the cost of their own like. These digimon became known as the Ten Legendary Digimon in the years to follow. After Lucemon and his followers had been taken care of, a triad of digimon – two human and one beast – rose to power and managed to make peace between the two groups. For many years, Lord Seraphimon, Lady Ophanimon and Lord Cherubimon ruled the Digital World in peace. However that peace wasn’t to last long.”

“Did Lucemon come back?” Patamon interjected, bouncing up and down on TK’s lap in excitement.

Zoe laughed in amusement at Patamon’s antics. “Sadly he did. Lucemon managed to corrupt Lord Cherubimon’s mind and influence the previously kind digimon to help bring about his revival. When Cherubimon effectively betrayed the other two members of the triad, Lady Ophanimon made contact with the human world and brought my friends and me to help save the Digital World. Each of us bonded with one of the five Legendary Warriors that held allegiance to Lady Ophanimon. The other five were under Lord Cherubimon’s control and in our journey to stop Lucemon’s revival we came face to face with those five many times. We managed to reach Lord Cherubimon and defeat him but the revival of Lucemon had already began.

“For the six of us, the battle against Lucemon was a difficult and trying time. Eventually our friendship and trust was the only thing that managed to defeat Lucemon. The Legendary Warriors helped us seal them away and stood guard to make sure Lucemon or any of his followers couldn’t escape. Then, two years ago, due to circumstances out of our control, Lucemon and his followers managed to break free. However they hadn’t been kept our Digital World. Instead they had been imprisoned in the center of the Digital Universe with each of the Digital Worlds unknowingly strengthening the prison walls. This amazing plan backfired when Lucemon broke free and didn’t know which Digital World was the one he wanted so he started destroying the worlds that weren’t the ones he wanted to increase his power.”

Zoe fell silent, not wanting to continue or tell them what had happened to their own worlds.

“What aren’t you telling us?” Marcus demanded.

Zoe bit her lip but she didn’t respond.

“Were our Digital Worlds destroyed by Lucemon?” Thomas inquired softly.

Zoe nodded. “Yes. He destroyed your worlds before coming back to this one. If he hadn’t however we wouldn’t have been able to bring you here to save this world and the whole Digital Universe. If we are successful in defeating Lucemon, we will be able to get the data from all the worlds he destroyed and rebuild them.”

“Looks like things have changed,” Marcus remarked. “Instead of simply fighting for this Digital World; we’re fighting for our own. That Lucemon bastard is going to regret messing with us!” Marcus clenched his fist and Agumon danced around him cheering.

“Thank you,” Zoe murmured. “It’ll be nice to know they won’t have to shoulder this burden alone.”

“Who are you talking about?” TK frowned.

“That is a story for another day,” Zoe replied cryptically before she stood up. “You should get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye out for any hostile digimon.”

Zoe drifted away from the group that was settling down for the night. A tear rolled down her face as she looked up to the three moons hanging brightly in the sky. “Takuya, Koji, stay strong. We’ll always be with you.”

DGDG

Koji watched at his best friend weaved through the streets of the Flame Terminal like they had never left the Digital World. If he hadn’t known where Bokomon’s house lay, he would have lost sight of the brunet about a block away from the station.

“I assume he knows where he’s going,” Rika huffed as they jogged after Takuya.

“We’re going to see if an old friend is still around,” Koji replied shortly. He had no clue who they were and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be making friends with the enemy.

“So this is your version of the Digital World?” Sora inquired as Takuya entered a house without knocking.

Koji reluctantly led the four newly introduced strangers into Bokomon’s house only to find Takuya had managed to make it look like a tornado had gone through the house. “And just what are you looking for?” he asked as he wandered over to the small portion of the house that Takuya’s frantic search hadn’t touched.

“Bokomon’s book,” Takuya emptied a storage box on the floor and rummaged through the pile.

Koji spied the infamous pink book nestled in the bookcase. He pulled it out and turned to face the whirlwind that had been his best friend moments ago. “And you didn’t think to check the bookcase first?” the Warrior of Light chuckled as he brandished the book in front of Takuya.

Takuya snatched the book out of his hands and managed to find the sole clean spot of the floor to sit down and frantically flip through the pages.

“A thank you would have been nice,” Koji grumbled before exiting the house and leaving Takuya to his search.

“Is Takuya ok?” Sora inquired once Koji had joined them.

Koji shrugged before turning his gaze to the horizon beyond the city. There had been something tugging on the back of his mind. Something dark was coming towards them from beyond the city. A dark shape appeared along the horizon and the tugging sensation immediately pointed to the unknown digimon.

“Takuya! We’ve got company!” Koji called back into the house. His eyes never leaving the growing silhouette.

“What kind of company?” Takuya stepped out of the house with the book hugged against his chest.

“The dark kind,” Koji responded. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Kind of,” Takuya looked down at the book. “Did you know that the Fractal Code was sealed away right before Lucemon escaped. That’s what I saw when the marks glowed. I thought perhaps Bokomon had written down where they might have sealed it, but there’s nothing that talks about it outright.”

“Lucemon won’t be happy then,” Koji mused. He could almost make out the shape of the digimon coming towards them.

“Who’s Lucemon?” Terriermon piped up.

“A very dangerous and evil digimon,” was the only thing Takuya said in answer.

“Our Lord would be most displeased to hear you call him that,” a very familiar pink and yellow digimon called out as they came to a stop a few feet away.

“He’s not my lord so I’d prefer it if you didn’t call Lucemon _our_ lord,” Koji retorted as he moved closer to Takuya, shielding the other members of their unconventional group.

“Crusadermon,” Takuya greeted icily. “What brings you here?”

“You did,” Crusadermon pointed at the Warrior of Fire. “I’d like to know where the Fractal Code is hidden.”

“Why would I know where the Fractal Code is hidden?” Takuya took a step forward, arms still wrapped around the Bokomon’s book.

Crusadermon let out a harsh laugh. “Don’t play dumb with me child. I know that book holds the secrets to this world.”

“It’s not in the book,” Koji spoke up, hand disappearing into his pocket.

Crusadermon’s focus switched from Takuya to Koji in a second and lashed out at Koji, throwing him back into the house. “Are you going to fight me child? I’m stronger than you last remembered.”

Koji looked up to see Takuya place himself between his crumpled form and the advancing digimon. He thrust the pink book out in front of him. “Here! If it’s the book you want take it!”

“Foolish child,” Crusadermon snatched the book out of Takuya’s hands. “You haven’t stopped me, merely delayed me. I’ll take this to Lord Lucemon and, when we meet again, I’ll enjoy destroying the both of you.”

Koji knocked Takuya’s legs out from underneath him as soon as Crusadermon had left. “You just gave the enemy the sole thing that could help us stop them!” Koji grabbed Takuya’s shirt. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. “Are you stupid?”

To Koji’s surprise, Takuya reached into his pocket and pulled out another pink book. He shoved it in Koji’s face. “Did you really think I would come out of that house with this out in the open for anyone to take? I know how much this can help us defeat Lucemon,” Takuya stood up and offered Koji his hand to help the Warrior of Light up. “I’ll forgive you because I’m sure Crusdarmon’s attack scrambled your brains for a moment.”

Koji snorted in amusement and took the offered hand. Sometimes he forgot how sneaky Takuya could be due to the fact the Takuya almost always ran into things head first without thinking of a plan beforehand.

“So what exactly is going on here?” Rika demanded with her hands on her hips.

Koji looked on in alarm as Takuya opened his mouth to tell the others _everything_. “Hold on a second,” Koji hissed grabbing Takuya’s arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Takuya frowned. “I’m going to answer their questions. They deserve to know what they’re getting themselves into. What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Koji sputtered. “Everything! Mainly the fact that _we don’t know them!”_

“You’re being ridiculously paranoid,” Takuya crossed his arms and turned to face Koji.

“I am not!” Koji protested. “I’m being _logical_.”

“No, you’re being paranoid,” Takuya corrected. “And if you’re so convinced that they’re with the enemy, perhaps you should use your ability and _sense_ if they are dark or not.”

Koji growled before closing his eyes and focusing on the confused members of their group. Not a single one of them held any hint of darkness. Half of them held an aloof feeling that people used to dealing with things alone held, but that was about the extent of their “darkness.” Koji swallowed uncomfortably and opened his eyes to cautiously meet Takuya’s exasperated gaze.

“Well?” the bite in Takuya’s voice was softened by the knowing smile on his face.

Koji folded his arms, not liking the position he had put himself in. “They’re fine,” he grumbled.

Takuya turned to face the others, “Sorry about that. Mr. Paranoid here wasn’t convinced you were friends. We’ll explain everything that we can as soon as we find some shelter away from the Flame Terminal.”

“Why do we need to find shelter?” Matt asked as Takuya turned to lead the group into the woods.

“So we don’t get rained on,” Takuya looked over his shoulder with an amused smile.

Koji had to hide his own smile when he heard Matt’s grumbled response of “What rain? There’s not a cloud in the sky!”

Koji might not trust the others, but he could tolerate them for as long as it took them to defeat Lucemon. He paused just outside the forest and looked back at the Flame Terminal. Takuya might have seen that the Legendary Warriors had hidden the Fractal Code, but Koji could have sworn for that brief second that he had felt Koichi’s presence in the Digital World. However, Koichi was dead and therefore couldn’t be in the Digital World, right?

“Koji, you’re going to be left behind if you don’t move from that spot,” Takuya’s voice was exasperated but Koji saw that he guessed what was going on in his head.

Koji rolled his eyes good naturedly and followed the rest of the group into the forest, putting thoughts of Koichi to the back of his mind until they were in a safer place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter! Hope everyone enjoyed reading it as well! Don't forget, if anything is confusing or unclear or you have suggestions let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it to this note please send me a review either here or on FFN! Thanks for reading!


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